>> democratic congressman tim bishop of new york. being shouted down and overwhelmed by a belligerent, organized crowd of hecklers that had no interest in letting him get a word out as he attempted to answer their questions. this could just be a one-off thing, a one-off experience of badly behaved constituents somewhere mad at their congressman about something or other. turns out this was not at all a one-off bad meeting. it turns out this is happening around the country. here's texas democratic congressman lloyd dogit. there are still elected democrats in texas. he is facing a similar scene at a town hall event over the weekend. this one took place at a grocery store in austin. [ chanting ]

>> what you may or may not be able to make out there is the crowd yelling "just say no, just say no" holding signs depicting congressman doggit as the devil and there's one sign that reads, no government counselor in my home. the u.s. senate doesn't take its recess for another week but democratic senator arlen specter got a taste of what his time off might be like at recess during a town hall event he held in philly yesterday with health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius. >> i am not a member of congress, have never been.

>> we actually had to narrow down the pile of footage that we had like this from just the last few days in order to figure out what to show in the time we had available on the show. we could have spent the entire hour showing tape like this. the more time you spend looking into this seemingly organic outrage at the town hall meetings the more clear it is that this isn't organic at all. this is orchestrated outrage. there is a script for this stuff. it was written before these events happened and it appears to be instructions to people to shut down these efforts at civic discourse. the website think progress obtained a leaked memo from a group that calls itself right principles. the three-page memo details how protestors should behave at town hall events under the heading "inside the hall" it says, quote, you need to rock the boat early in the representative's presentation. watch for an opportunity to yell out and challenge the

representative's statements early. if he blames bush for something or offers other excuses, call him on it. yell back. and have someone else follow up with a shout-out. the goal is to rattle him. also, quote, when the formal q & a session begins get all your hands up and keep them up. the balance of the group should applaud when the question is asked further putting the representative on the defensive. who is giving these instructions like this? that memo was written by a man named bob macguffie who is affiliated with an organization called freedom works, a washington, d.c. lobbying firm run by former republican majority leader dick armey. corporate lobbyists are organizing far right hooligan tact particular tactics to disrupt civil meetings about health care reform. this is the organized use of intimidation as a political tool and i don't mean it euphemistically.

i mean literal intimidation. new york new york congressman tim bishop who we showed you earlier ended up having to be escorted to his car by five police officers for his own safety after his town hall event was over. this type of harassment is not just reserved for elected officials. check out what happened at a syracuse, new york town hall meeting when a man who supports a single payor health care system stood up at one of these events to ask why his congressman wasn't supporting single payor. >> is it cheaper? it would cover everyone. we have 45 million people uninsured. 90 people signed on in the united states congress. >> sit down. sit down. sit down. >> the single payor universal health care. >> this type of tactic and intimidation is a deliberate choice. and it appears to be stoked and organized by corporate lobbyists

and it is not something that is happening in a vacuum. let me give you another example of what's being passed off as politics right now by lobbying interests on the political right. when the climate change bill came before the house last month, the democratic congressman named tom parello of virginia received a letter purportedly from a nonprofit hispanic group in his district and the letter urged him to oppose the cap and trade legislation. he received similar letters from what were purportedly his local branches of the naacp only these letters weren't actually from that hispanic group in his district or the naacp. a republican lobbying firm in washington has admitted to impersonating those local nonprofits and sending congressman ferello fake letters to get him to oppose the climate change legislation. congress is investigating this incident. this is a lobbying firm, the establishment. this isn't a lone nut job passing himself off as a group he doesn't belong to but well paid lobbyists doing this as a strategy. it's the same thing with the

deathers. the scare your grandmother that the whole point of health care reform is secretly to kill old people. this patently, patently false rumor about health care reform as we've talked about earlier on this show was started by a woman who sits on the board of directors of one of the nation's biggest medical device companies. everybody says oh, politics ain't bean bag. right? obviously this is not bean bag but this isn't hardball either. no offense to chris. this just isn't even politics. this is orchestrated mob mentality intimidation. this is called hooliganism. joining us now is eugene robinson, pulitzer prize winning columnist and associate editor for "the washington post" and also an msnbc political analyst. thanks very much for being here. >> great to be here, rachel. >> let me start by giving you a chance to challenge the premise here. you are more wise in the ways of washington than i am and you know how the august recesses work. what we're seeing to me seems extreme. does it seem extreme to you or am i just being naive?

>> no. this seems extreme, extraordinary. you could almost say shocking. it's hard to be shocked in politics but this is so clearly an organized campaign of intimidation, of theater. i mean, it's not theater in all the world's a stage and all the men and women merely players metaphorical sense but the let's put on a show kind of sense to not just shout down any individual congressman or congresswoman who happens to be holding a town meeting, but to create this videotape that gets posted on websites, that gets on television, that creates this sort of atmosphere of health reform. the very idea of health reform being on the defensive and it's, you know, this is something that

strikes me as particularly noxious and out of bounds. >> we know now that the lobbying firm freedom works is involved to some degree in organizing this disrupt the town hall strategy. they were also the lobbyists who organized the very first tea parties back in the tea party day. do you see this strategy as being all of a piece? is there a connection between the tea party movement and what we're seeing here about health care reform? >> the tea party movement didn't really go very far. perhaps for the right it was an organizing tool but it didn't really have much of an aim except, you know, we're mad as hell. and not going to take this anymore, whatever "this" is. this, on the other hand, you know, health care is the subject. and so there's a definite aim here which is to stop in its tracks the most serious attempt

at actual health care reform that could make a difference in millions of people's lives and also make a difference to the bottom lines of insurance companies and others that make money off the health care industry as it is. but this is the most serious challenge in, you know, certainly in many years. and they're taking it seriously obviously. and, you know, it's almost like the old cold war arms race days but this is a tactic that's sort of almost mob intimidation at these meetings. you never know where they're going to pop up, when they're going to pop up, that i don't think anyone quite knows how to respond to at this point. i mean, do you bring in your own side to shout down the shouters down? do you bring in the cambridge police to enforce the disorderly conduct laws? i'm not quite sure what you do. >> democratic senator dick durbin today said the town hall ambushes were a sucker punch

because they are orchestrated by corporate interests who are against health reform. we know "the wall street journal" is reporting this weekend be that the health insurance industry association has deployed its corporate staff to 30 different states to track these town halls. i wonder if at some point there ends up being a political cost to them to being associated with this kind of raw thuggishness. i'm all in favor of rabble rousers and people even being disruptive and using their first amendment rights even if it is an untoward, unfriendly way but when it is part of a corporate strategy organized by lobbyists who are sort of astro-turfed do they ultimately get in trouble when that is exposed? >> i think there certainly could be some blowback as those connections get made and get written about and are made obvious to people who are paying attention to this debate.

but at the same time, i think people who are advocating health care reform or who even advocate an honest and constructive debate about health reform proposals that are being considered have to find a way to go on the offense in this debate and not be caught on the defensive and there is a sense that this new tactic has put health care reformers on the defensive or at least wondering exactly how to respond, so i would suggest that they kind of put their best strategists or tacticians in a room and figure out, okay. if they're going to be doing this how do we counter it and how do we go on the offensive to get our message across so people can hear it? >> gene robinson, pulitzer prize winning columnist, associate editor for "the washington post", it's great to have your insight on this tonight. thank you. >> great to be here, rachel. okay. why is it when a policy is so successful, so popular, so overwhelmingly good at achieving

its overwhelmingly good goals, it must therefore die? senator sherrod brown joins us next to explain how it is in some parts of washington today a policy that works is a policy that must be stopped. hi, may i help you? yes, i hear progressive has lots of discounts on car insurance. can i get in on that? are you a safe driver? yes. discount! do you own a home? yes. discount! are you going to buy online? yes! discount! isn't getting discounts great? yes! there's no discount for agreeing with me. yeah, i got carried away. happens to me all the time. helping you save money -- now, that's progressive. call or click today.

when we're in a sandwich you'll know it we are our own mixed up blend of one of a kind spices we are miracle whip and we will not tone it down former president clinton is already enroute to north korea to try to negotiate a release. there is no word on when he arrived. secretary of state hillary clinton of course has already been calling on the north kraens to grant amnesty to euna lee and laura ling. this is a breaking news update and we'll bring you more details on this story that just broke minutes ago as they become available. these two women are reportedly being helped by bill clinton. former president clinton is on route to north korea to try to negotiate a release. there is no word when he arrived. secretary of state hillary clinton has been calling on the

north koreans to grant amnesty to euna lee and laura ling. we'll bring you more details. (announcer) create a gourmet meal on a weeknight?

introducing anytime gourmet culinary kits for two. it has everything you need. just prep, cook and share your way into a gourmet meal. wild salmon dijon in puff pastry with whole-wheat orzo and vegetables. new stouffer's anytime gourmet. make it amazing.

let's say you had a policy in mind that had a few interrelated goals. number one, stimulus. get cash money into the hands of americans who will definitely spend it, buying stuff that will keep businesses humming, that'll keep more people employed which will give those employees more money to spend which ultimately means our horrific recession doesn't become a horrific depression. that's one goal. stimulus. second goal? inspire demand specifically in the car industry. which the american government has decided to try to save

because of millions of american jobs that depend on that industry and because of how inconceivable it is that america would no longer have the national capacity to make cars. so first goal, stimulus. second goal help the car industry. third goal? reduce the amount of gas that we guzzle and the emissions we pollute our own country with by helping americans switch to cleaner, more efficient, newer cars. all of these interrelated goals, these three, are the thinking behind cash for clunkers. you trade in your old car that doesn't get great mileage and because of all those goals, stimulus, helping the car industry, and cleaning up the joint, the government gives you in exchange for your clunker a big, fat 35 or $4500 check toward buying or leasing a new car. a simple program. a totally cogent policy idea. the only question was, would it work? would americans take advantage of it? the answer to that question is a technical policy term which is oh, boy doggie did it work. the program only made it about a

week before it ran out of money because so many people took advantage of it. by saturday more than 85,000 car transactions had already been registered with dealers saying they hadn't been able to get to the paperwork yet on perhaps hundreds of thousands more. americans are apparently loving this program. car dealerships are mobbed for the first time in years. ford says their sales are up this month over the same month last year, the first time they've been able to say that since 2007. the average fuel economy of the clunkers being traded in about 16 miles per gallon. the average fuel economy for the new cars being sold back to people? nine miles per gallon higher than that. which means it will have a big impact on the amount of gas we use as a country. in other words this is a hit. this is a huge success. stimulating the economy, helping the car industry, cleaning up the joint. people love it. therefore, it must die. >> this is crazy to try to rush this thing through again while they're trying to rush through health care.

we've got to slow this thing down. >> it's working. it's working. slow it down. senator jim demint of south carolina. republican senator john mccain of arizona was reportedly considering a filibuster against any effort to keep this program alive but he has since backed down from that. senator mccain does say that he remains strongly opposed to the program. even centrist democrat claire mccaskill of missouri is saying she wants to kill the program. because it works? why? because it works for business? because it works for the economy generally? because it works for the environment and because people love it? therefore we must make sure we kill it? joining us now is democratic senator sherrod brown of ohio. it's nice to see you. thanks for coming back on the show. am i right cash for clunkers is working as intended? >> yeah, not quite. it's actually working better than intended. this town is full of ideology and sort of this knee jerk

reaction generally from the far right that if this is a government program by definition it can't work. and this as you pointed out so well in each of those three or four points, it's clearly worked every bit as well or better than expected. it works for jobs. it works for creating demand. it works for the environment. it works to put people back to work. it's the best, it's in some sense the best stimulus that we've seen. the money goes out in people's pockets. it's spent. it's back into the community exactly what we want to create demand in the auto industry. >> well, republicans in congress on the issue of stimulus have been critical of the economic stimulus efforts thus far in part by saying things weren't happening fast enough. now we just heard that argument from senator demint saying we need to slow this cash for clunkers program down. we just need to -- not even necessarily arguing it isn't working. he's just saying it should work more slowly. we should make it take a break. what's your take on this issue of timing and his argument there? >> well, it goes back to what i said at the beginning.

i think, rachel, it's a question of ideology. they just, you know, they don't like the public option health care because it's a government program. they didn't like medicare. we had waited for bipartisanship and medicare we never would have had medicare. they don't like a government program. whether it works or it doesn't, what really aggravates them is when it works. when we do something like this it works better than expected, ten miles per gallon better, 85% of the cars turned in or the vehicles turned in are trucks. only 40% of them, the new vehicles are trucks, much higher mileage ones. we're seeing success all the way up and down in this for the environment, for getting money in people's pockets, for helping dealers, for helping the largest industry in america, the car, auto component manufacturers, the largest industry we have. if we're going to get out of this recession more quickly we need to stimulate the auto industry and all the auto suppliers and dealerships in every community in america because we know recessions typically, the auto industry drives us, leads us out of a recession.

that's why this program is working so -- the effectiveness of this program is so good for the economy. >> there is a little late breaking news on the politics of all of this. if some republicans, some individual republican senator or a group of them decides to try to stop this program in its tracks, they may have to block the senate from going into recess in order to do that. they would have to delay the recess if they wanted to stop the program which means they'd be taking a big public political stand on this issue. would that be an opportunity for the democrats and republicans to have a great ideological debate about whether or not the government should actually try to be good at doing stuff or whether the government shouldn't do anything at all which is i think what the conservatives are arguing here? >> sure. and i think if they want to block it and, you know, into next week, we stay as long as we need to. this is an example of this is working, this is good for the economy. obviously especially good for my state. i don't deny it for a second. it's good for the economy overall.

the auto industry leads us out of recessions historically, can help lead us out of this one. we'll stay as long as we need. but that debate needs to happen. and i hear republicans complaining on the senate floor tonight, dodd and harkin were talking about the public option. on the other side republicans were trying to scare senior citizens about medicare and about the health care system and the government takeover. and it's clear that government can't do everything but government does some things very, very well. medicare, cash for clunkers, the list is pretty long. and bring them on. let's have the debate and the discussion. >> senator sherrod brown of ohio, thanks very much for your time tonight, sir. >> thank you, rachel. >> so it turns out that when nevada senator john ensign put a teenager on the republican party payroll as a policy consultant republican party staffers knew at the time that ensign was sleeping with that kid's mom. classy. also classy? the republican party still not explaining whether it had an

official role in covering up ensign's affair or in paying off his mistress's family. even classier than that? senator ensign still planning to run for re-election. stay with us. (announcer) your doctor knows tylenol doesn't interfere with

certain high blood pressure medicines the way aleve metimes can. that's one reason why doctors recommend tylenol more than any other brand of pain reliever. population 49 million. 145,000 teenagers are typing a text message at 70 words a minute. average speed of their parents: 8. right now, 90 high schoolers are shopping for new kicks on zappos.com. - none of them got game. - ( buzzer sounds ) 19,000 teenagers are flipping 354,000 burgers

- to get the new samsung exclaim. - ( sizzles ) - ( gasps ) - just one of four iming, texting and twittering back-to-school phones you can get from sprint, starting at $19.99. sprint. the now network. deaf, hard of hearing and people with speech disabilities access www.sprintrelay.com.

oh, my god did you hear that barack obama was born in kenya? for real. they put it on the interweb. yet another new birth certificate from him from kenya? also did you hear elvis's cat is still alive from the 1970s which is weird enough? but it totally just gave birth to an alien and now has to wear a little cat helmet it avoid being mind controlled by the alien kitty's babies and ancestors from mork. ana marie cox will join us with

all the exclamation points and omgs in a moment. but first time for a little holy mackerel stories in today's news. his very first day in office after being elected senator virginia democrat jim webb introduced the post 9/11 veterans educational assistance act. better known as the new gi bill. one of his original cosponsors was then senator barack obama of illinois. the two men were together again today at george mason university in fairfax, virginia, to celebrate the fact that the first checks have now been mailed out to veterans under the new gi bill. this is the first major update to the promises that we make to veterans in this country since world war ii. >> we do this not just to meet our moral obligation to those who sacrificed greatly on our behalf and on behalf of the country. we do it because these men and women must now be prepared to lead our nation in the peaceful pursuit of economic leadership in the 21st century. >> president franklin roosevelt signed the original gi bill in 1944.

almost 8 million world war ii vets used that educational benefit afforded them by the gi bill to attend college. the middle class in the mid and late 20th century was neat? you think america did a pretty good job turning our massive war time mobilization into the 1940s into a massive economic and scientific and educational juggernaut in the 1950s and sects 60s? you can say thanks to the gi bill in large part for a lot of that. the new gi bill offers new vets up to 100% of tuition and housing as well as things like books and supplies. if there is a cloud in the silver lining, it's that the website created to guide veterans through the paperwork morass of this new benefit is not user friendly. to help the nonpartisan, nonprofit organization iraq and afghanistan veterans of america has set up their own website to try to help veterans navigate their new benies. check it out at new gi bill.org. we've posted a link at rachel.msnbc.com. also, as the republican

party searches for meaning in the political minority, a characteristic affliction of some of its most senior members appears to be the inability to connect big, obvious political dots. case in point? senator john mccain. senator mccain, how important is it for the republican party to try to appeal to latinos? >> on the issue of the hispanic voter we have to do a lot more. and i am of the belief that unless we reverse the trend of hispanic voter registration we have a very, very deep hole that we've got to come out of. >> okay. that's political dot number one. the gop not appealing to latinos puts the gop into a deep, deep hole. so says john mccain. ready for political dot number two? >> i am unable to support judge sotomayor's nomination. >> okay. just to recap here, dot number one, john mccain says the gop is desperately searching for ways to increase their appeal to latino voters. dot number two? republican politicians must

decide how to vote on the first latino supreme court justice nominee and john mccain has decided to vote against. he's decided to make the first latino nominee ever, the first ever supreme court nominee, he has ever voted against. he's never voted against a nominee for the supreme court before. sonia sotomayor will be his first no vote. is there any way that these dots can be connected? can anyone help senator mccain with the shortest distance between two points is a straight line idea? the 2008 election. moisturiz, you might as well be. you see, their moisturizer sits on top of skin, most as if you're wearing it. only new dove deep moisture has nutriummoisture, a breakthrough formula with natural moisturizers... that can nourish deep down. it's the most effective natural nourishment ever. new dove deep moisture with nutriummoisture. superior natural nourishment for your skin.

has the fastest serve in the history of professional tennis. so i've come to this court to challenge his speed. ...on the internet. i'll be using the 3g at&t laptopconnect card. he won't. so i can book travel plans faster, check my account balances faster. all on the go. i'm bill kurtis and i'm faster than andy roddick. (announcer) "switch to the nations fastest 3g network" "and get the at&t laptopconnect card for free". (announcer) regular kool-aid. goes almost three times further than soda. kool aid. delivering more smiles per gallon.

just because they're inside you doesn't mean they're protected. oh, ladies. let's say you have osteoporosis. i do. you uld be losing bone strength. can i get it back? (announcer) ask your doctor how to help treat osteoporosis with once-a-month actonel. actonel is clinically proven to help increase bone rength to help prevent fractures. so you can get back some of what you lost. do not take actonel if you have low blood calcium, severe kidney disease, or cannot sit or stand for 30 minutes. foow all dosing instructions. stop taking actonel and tell your doctor if you experience difficult or painful swallowing, chest pain or severe or continuing heartburn. these may be signs of serious upper digestive problems. promptly tell your doctor if you develop severe bone, joint or muscle pain, or if you develop dental problems, as serious jawbone problems have been reported rarely. the more you know about osteoporosis, the more you'll want to ask your doctor if once-a-month actonel is right for you. (announcer) if you can't afford your medication, visit actonel.com to find out how the alliance for better bone health may be able to help.

the 2008 election. any excuse. sorry. the results? still not actually finalized until last month were that the republicans essentially got creamed. they lost the white house to barack obama. the size of the democratic majority in the house went from 37 seats to 79 seats. and the truly shocking defeat was how badly the republicans lost in the senate. republicans before the '08 election had 49 seats in the

senate. in the '08 election they lost eight of them. not a single seat switched from democratic to republican. not a single democratic senator lost his or her seat. and five, count them, five republican incumbents were beaten by democrats. the entire 2008 election was a disaster for the republican party but for the republican party in the senate, it was worse than disaster. they lost everything they tried for and then some. that was even before arlen specter added insult to injury by flipping parties to the democrats. now, who is responsible for the republican party's fiasco in the senate in the 2008 election? who was in charge of the republican party's efforts to hold on to its seats in the senate, efforts that failed so epically? hey, it was senator john ensign of nevada. he was in charge of the national republican senatorial committee for 2007 and 2008. that's the campaign arm of the republican party responsible for the senate.

while he was supposedly getting busy then overseeing the runup to his party's 2008 shellacking in the senate you may recall he was also getting busy with a staffers, putting her son on the nrsc payroll, finding jobs for her husband, and asking his own parents to give financial gifts, lots of them, to his mistress's family. that's a lot to do while you're trying to get folks elected to the u.s. senate. i wonder if he's a good multitasker. tonight there is new evidence ensign was not the only one at the national republican senatorial committee who might have been distracted by his extramarital affair while preparing fort ill-fated election. "the las vegas sun" has obtained e-mails from the political director and finance director of the nrsc and the e-mails are from their nrsc e-mail accounts and they are written to senator ensign's mistress and to her husband and, yes, they are e-mails that refer obliquely but fairly obviously to the affair

and its fallout. these are e-mails that were sent while the national republican senatorial committee was also employing ensign's mistress's son. back in march, 2008, the nrsc started paying the teenaged son of doug and cynthia hampton. they were paying him as a policy analyst. the month after that senator ensign's parents gave the hamptons $96,000 in gifts in april and the elder hamptons then left senator ensign's employ. the month after that doug hampton the husband of the couple started working for november inc. as a consulting firm run by the political director of the association. mr. slancher said he had no knowledge of the affair when he hired mr. hampton. the implication being he found out when the rest of the world did. during senator ensign's june 16, 2009 public confession. in july of 2008 nearly a year

before then mike slanker and his wife who is also the finance director of the nrsc were e-mailing with doug and cynthia hampton about the affair. that means when you put it all together that at least three people in the national republican senatorial committee, senator ensign himself, the chair of the committee, plus the nrsc's political director, plus their finance director, all knew what was going on. while they had ensign's mistress's son on the nrsc payroll. joining us now is the reporter who obtained these telling new e-mails, columnist for "the las vegas sun" and the host of face to face and thanks very much for coming back on the show. >> thanks for having me. >> what do these e-mails tell us about the republican party's role in the ensign affair that we didn't know before? >> well, as you said, i think the implication was from mike slanker's original statement was he didn't find out about this until june 16th when ensign disclosed it.

now it's clear that he and his wife, two top officials of the senatorial committee knew about it. now, when exactly did they find out about it? certainly before those july e-mails and the question is how distracting can that be when they find out that this has occurred and they have doug hampton essentially with their mothball company in las vegas where they've just handed him this job essentially where he is trying to bring in clients but not doing much and they know these e-mails i obtained are full of this raw emotion. it had to be distracting. imagine how they felt. how they felt, rachel, about their boss, john ensign having done this and then essentially thrown doug hampton to them to take care of. >> what we know at that time in terms of the way this timeline goes as best as i understand it that the political director and finance director of the nrsc at

that time knew about the affair between ensign and mrs. hampton, knew that doug hampton had been essentially recommended to them, nod, nod, wink, wink, for employ in their company and they knew they had the teenage son of that couple on the payroll of the nrsc in some sort of policy role. has the republican party ever explained why they had this teenager on the payroll? >> well, mike slanker when i talked to him several weeks ago, rachel, said he hired the doug hampton son as he would any other intern. that it was no big deal. again, this revelation, you know, raises all kinds of other questions. what mike slanker told me today when i confronted him with the e-mails was he never meant to mislead the media but he meant he didn't know about the affair when he hired doug hampton for november, inc. so that version of events if true and by the way that comports with what doug hampton told me, that john ensign's wife, listen to this, john ensign's wife, darlene ensign, called mike slanker and said do you know why essentially you were told to hire doug hampton?

it's because of this affair. think about how sordid and tawdry that is and think about this, too, rachel. this is the most important point that comes out of these e-mails. john ensign was willing to sell his top finance and political person at the nrsc down the river to cover up this affair to use them, to use them without telling them the full truth, to take on this man that he wanted out of his office and he wanted to continue to pursue his wife. that's what those e-mails really reveal to me. >> and this is all happening in the summer of 2008, leading up to the fall of 2008, when in the senate the republican party lost eight seats and john ensign was the man in the republican party who had responsibility for overseeing the republican party's efforts in the senate. are you hearing from any republican sources about dissatisfaction with his level of perhaps focus at the time? >> well, i think that's going to start happening. there were rumbles of that before but when you see again those e-mails and how distracted

obviously mike and lindsay were. we know ensign was distracted. he must be the most marvelous multitasker with everything he was supposed to be doing. being a u.s. senator, running the nrsc and chasing this woman who doesn't live in washington anymore, how could he possibly have done a good job? now, i think what really john ensign should be worried about now is this all starts to percolate up and they're, there are not just recriminations about his performance in 2008 but what about now? the republicans don't need this. i think they hope that the last shoe has dropped in this. they don't want to keep hearing this drip, drip, drip of revelations about john ensign. the question for him is how big will this bubble up inside that caucus where there's tremendous pressure for him to get out of the way so he's not a liability for them? >> i would only add the other

question that now needs to be answered and we have to watch for the timing on i guess is when the republican party will feel compelled to answer whether or not they were involved in actively covering up this affair or in paying hush money to this mistress's family in the form of a make work job for her teenage son. we have continually tried to get a comment from the republican party on these issues. we'll keep it up and keep talking about your reporting on the subject, john. thanks for joining us. >> thanks, rachel. >> a columnist for the las vegas sun and hosts a program called "face to face." okay. you want lame? the birther movement. lamer? the latest unearthed photo of obama's kenyan birth certificate. which is so accidently lame as to be hilarious. the lamest is the rumor-mongering that barack obama isn't president and it is catching on big time. ana marie cox will be here to help me make sense and possibly a little fun of it all coming up next. it's fidelity's guidance -- it shows you ways to spend in retirement that can help your money last, whatever your plans.

like, if we wanted to travel? husband: or start a business? advisor: yep. wife: or take some classes? sure. or find the best cheeseburger? the line isn't for everything. whatever your destination, fidelity has the people, guidance and investments to help you find your way. it helps get the toughest stains out the first time. whoa, that's a first. (announcer) that's because new tide stain release is a revolutionary in-wash booster... ... that works with your detergent... to help remove the toughest stains the first time. mom, let me grab that. another first. (announcer) new tide stain release. stains out. no doubt.

it's much easier to find money at esurance. great auto insurance rates and lots of discounts! got insurance already? save more with esurance's "switch & save (tm) discount"! it also pays to shop online. you get esurance's "fast 5 (tm) discount" just for getting an instant online quote. - thanks, professor. - don't forget the good student discount. and there's even more discounts! it's no "secret" that you can save hundreds with esurance. make it your "mission" to click or call esurance today.

when we're in a sandwich you'll know it we are our own mixed up blend of one of a kind spices

the president is turning 48 years old tomorrow. or is he? according to his hawaiian birth certificate. president

it includes but is not limited to the incorrectly listed age of his father, the unofficial name of kenya, and the official locations of the hospital in question which at the time was not actually in kenya. there is a record number of countries in which the president has been born. republicans buy into this stuff. a new research 2000 poll conducted shows a combined total of 58% of republicans either don't believe the president was born in the u.s. or are not sure whether or not he was. 58%. they don't know or they wonder. joining us now is anna marie cox, political contributor.

you're better than i am. very nice to see you. >> should we be making fun of this or given how many people are buying into it, it should be the thing we should be totally serious about? >> i think we have to be making fun of it. that is actually a pretty serious weapon. and just to make fun of something, rachael, doesn't mean you also don't take it seriously. i think in some ways the stuff that's going on underneath the surface of the birther phenomenon is deadly serious. and we should be talking about it. that doesn't mean they're not ridiculous and the claims are not ridiculous. it just means that when we talk about it, not only should we mock it and mock it with all the full throated glory we can. you have to do one or the other. i'm a believer in mocking and debunking at the same time. >> i am as well. what do you think is the sort of the darker reality and the

darker implications of this? what do you think is the more serious stuff that lurks? >> well, it goes back into a very dark and very ugly sort of strain in american history which is the attempt to sort of deperson black people and to treat them as something as less than full people and full humans. i think that you were probably very familiar with the fact that this is not the first time that people have raised questions about a presidential candidate or a president's, you know, origin. john mccain faced questions about being born in the panama canal zone. those never went very far. it's really hard not to notice that there is one major difference between the two allegations and that is one of the people they're talking about is black. and i think that the only way can you talk about the birther phenomenon without talking about this history of thinking of one type of person who has a certain color skin as inherently american and that people who don't have that color skin are suspect. >> anna marie cox, contributor

to "playboy" magazine that deserve this is topic, i think, deserves much more discussion. i look forward top of more of it with you. >> and much more mocking. >> yes. indeed. always. thanks. coming up on "countdown," keith's special comments on the blue dog and conservative and republican opposition to health care reform. it's the mirror opposite of what a convention full of women with barely a man in sight used to be. (announcer) introducing new tums dual action. this tums goes to work in seconds and lasts for hours. all day or niht. new tums dual action. bring it on. you could buy 300 bottles of water. or just one brita filter.

( drop plinks ) brita-- better for the environment and your wallet. brita-- better for the environment so, what's the problem? these are hot. we're shipping 'em everywhere. but we can't predict our shipping costs. dallas. detroit. different rates. well with us, it's the same flat rate. same flat rate. boston. boise? same flat rate. alabama. alaska? with priority mail flat rate boxes from the ptal service. if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. dude's good. dude's real good. dudes. priority mail flat rate boxes only from the postal service. a simpler way to ship.

we turn to our undead appreciation correspondent kent jones. >> hi, rachel. there was a twilight convention held in dallas over the weekend called twi-con. i didn't go because i'm a dude and, two, not a vampire, still, fun was had. the it's been the right of every

adolescent boy to disappear into a subculture of dorkdom. i'll show you a man with a set helmet in his garage. you have a fan boy cult of your own thanks to the phenomenon that is "twilight," the geek class ceiling has been shattered. superteen lover who is a vampire. love so pure and eternal, they will never, ever have s.e.c. the first movie made $375 million. clearly not sex sells. everything i know about show business is wrong. at twi-con, necessity forked over $250 a piece for workshops and vendors and an estimated 3.2 million pg-13 fantasies about robert patton. twi-con climaxed with a masquerade ball. >> guys don't get into it as much because it's about true love and it's about dedication, everything a woman, a girl dreams of. >> so many men, so few vampires.

>> girls come at that story so many few directions. i said obama was born 1861 when i meant to say 1961. i said obama was born 1861 when i meant to say 1961. >> he looks great for his age. >> he looks great for his age.

>> "hardball with chris matthe s matthews" is next. crazy august. let's play "hardball." > good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. leading off tonight, summer in the city. temperatures are rising in this country as town hall meetings on health care are turning into mob scenes. noisy, angry, vengeful crowds are shouting down members of congress who are trying to talk up president obama's health care push. catch this joyful scene surrounding democrat lloyd doggett down in texas when he called a town meeting. >> just say no! just say no! just say no! just say no! just say no! just say no!

>> congressman doggett joins news a minute. the message there was fairly clear. just say no to the obama health care plan. also, we've been hearing so much crazy talk from the right recently from the no nothing birthers who want to claim the president is a native born kenyans, who claims the government wants to kill old people or at least talk them into killing themselves. but it is just possible in fact, really possible, really possible that stirring up the far outs on the far right will also gin up the conservative base and get things perking for the republican party come next november with the midterm elections? plus, what about this government program that gives you up to $4,500 towards a new car if you trade in your low mileage clunker? if it ran out of money while the congress was on vacation, at least the house is on vacation, will the senate go on vacation without extending the program in time? transportation secretary ray lahood is coming here directly today to defend the program. plus, it's excitement eve in the keystone state. democracy it appears is heading back to where it all began. by that i mean the democratic voters of philadelphia and pennsylvania as a whole will have a choice in next year's senate primary because u.s. congressman joe sestak is bravely going to come out of the gate and make a very big statement tomorrow morning, a very big statement. that arlen specter is going to have a rival for the nomination of the pare